Baseball Party

Chandler's baseball season ended on Wednesday, so his team had their party tonight. The kids went swimming, ate pizza, and got their trophies. I just have to say, thank goodness! Kid's pitching at 8 years old takes FOREVER. We're not a baseball watching family anyway. The games always lasted about an hour and a half, and they would usually only get in 3 or 4 innings!
Justin and I were the ones who wanted him to play. He's so into soccer, but since he's only 8 we wanted him to try other sports too. This is the second year we made him play, and he's told us that he does not want to play next year (he told us that last time too.) He's actually really good, he just doesn't like the slow pace. Chandler is used to soccer, where the game actually moves.

Up to bat

Hi Mom!

We're done!

Even Eli got bored!

The best part, the trophy!

Crazy Skateboarding Kid

Chandler is getting better and better at skateboarding. He is ALWAYS ready to go to the lessons. Good darn thing because it's not cheap!
Check out this video of CJ dropping into the bowl. He is the kid at the top in the green.
I apologize in advance for the shaky camera work. Eli was trying to get it away from me!

He's only been going to lessons for 4 months. I can't wait to see what he will do next.

Sprinkles in the desert!

Well, it's not really raining here, but my favorite cupcake bakery from Southern California has come to Scottsdale. After waiting over a year, Sprinkles Cupcakes opened today! My friend Sarah shares my love of cake, so we went this morning.
Yes, the cupcakes cost $3.25 each, but who cares! I also frequently spend $4 for a coffee. Besides, the cupcakes taste better than those from any other bakery I've ever tried. I do make great cupcakes of my own, but that leads to me eating too many!

Olivia attempting to retrieve her cupcake

Mmmm, cupcake! At least Eli doesn't know what he's missing!

It's finally here!

They actually make you CHOOSE between all the different flavors

My favorite Sprinkles cupcake is the black and white. It's pretty self explanatory, but it's a dark chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. (As those of you with small children will understand, sometimes we need a little help with the obvious.)

Mady and Eli

Madelyn loves her little brother. She loves to play with him. He's becoming more and more fun and she really enjoys having another person to boss around.

Peach Picking

My little brother came to visit us last weekend. I will always say little brother even though he has been considerably taller than me for many years now. I was really excited to have him come visit. He is not used to the chaos that is our household, but no one is. It's something you can't understand until you come experience it! I think he had a good time though, his nieces and nephews love him, and were sad to see him go. Justin, Olivia, Elijah, and I were sitting at Starbucks this morning, when out of nowhere Olivia said, "Hey, where is Jonathan?" As Jonathan now knows, she repeated the phrase many times even though we told her that he went back to HIS house far away.

One of the things we did this past weekend was peach picking. We went to Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek on Saturday. The first day of peach picking season was just the day before, so we had a really great abundance to choose from. The girl working at the booth handing out boxes encouraged us to try the peaches, so we all did. They were so juicy and sweet, Jonathan commented about one peach that it was the best he had ever eaten. Justin and I couldn't argue either, they were excellent!

We ended up picking $50 worth of peaches. It didn't take too long to accumulate that many either, we had lots of little hands helping. The kids had actually complained that they didn't want to go to the farm and pick peaches, but when they got there they had a great time. Fortunately we did not see any snakes, vermin, or any other kind of critters that I was worried about. Praise the Lord! That is always my biggest concern about being outside. I am definitely an inside kind of person.

Anyway, peach picking was a lot of fun, and I loved spending time with my brother! We all wish he wasn't so far away!


Everybody but Olivia smiled for the camera. I don't know why she wouldn't! (It's probably because she's 2.)

Madelyn showing off her first peach

Jonathan and Olivia

Going to weigh the peaches

Waiting for lunch...

Still waiting...

The farm has a restaurant on site, so we thought it would be nice to just eat there. After 10 minutes a waitress came over to take our order. She fumbled through, but eventually the order was placed. After another 20 or so minutes of waiting a different waitress comes out and tells us that lunch isn't served until 1pm (5 minutes away) but the kitchen is running behind, so it will be awhile before we can eat. All the kids were being good, but we decided NOT to risk it. We ended up paying $12 for our drinks and went home. Having a restaurant on site is a great idea. It's not going to last very long if the service is that poor though.

The tooth fairy cometh

Madelyn has lost another tooth! The current count is now two down, a bunch to go. She lost this one at school, just like last time. Her teacher put it in a little bag for her to take home. When Mady got home, she decided to wash the tooth, because Madelyn loves to play in the sink (still). Anyway, she accidently dropped her tooth down the drain, and she was devistated! Justin and I had to reassure her that the tooth fairy would still visit, and she would get her money.